Seeing through the Father's Eyes

Pt VI

Continuation of Children and Heirs

 

This frees us up to see as the Father sees. When we are no longer living by the world’s hierarchical system, we see other’s worth and identity as the Father sees it and we can call if forth in them. Just as the Father had grace on us, so we get to have grace on others. Grace looks like focusing on someone’s identity not their behavior. The more we know our identity, the more we can see other’s identity and the less their behavior and words stick to us.

By understanding what it means to be a child of the king, we learn to live in the palace not on the edge of the kingdom. We don’t get our thinking from the gutter but from the throne room.

The book of Romans talks about how our old self was crucified with Christ and we were raised with him so we are no longer under the dominion of sin but under grace. The law was our guardian but now we are adopted as children of the Father and have direct access to the Father as his children.

Romans 8:14-17—All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not received the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you received the Spirit of adaption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father! The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Galatians 3:23-26—Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

 

It is no wonder that Jesus had such harsh words for the Pharisees because of their legalism, and so did Paul for the Judiasers. They were trying to put the law on the New Covenant. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have to work for death in the kingdom of darkness but God freely gives life in his kingdom. What the Pharisees were trying to do was mix the two kingdoms. They were living as though they were still under a task master or a guardian not under a good Father who accepted them simply because they are His. They wanted the benefits of God’s kingdom but the rules and regulations of the kingdom of darkness that allowed them to measure achievement and standing.

By trying to work for the kingdom of God they were totally missing it and leading others down with them. They wanted intimacy without a commitment. It doesn’t work that way. In the Kingdom of God we do not gain standing based on merit. We have standing because of whose we are not because of what we do.

As children we are also heirs and have access to the kingdom’s resources. In the Roman world the heir would have a signet ring with the family crest or symbol on it. It was representative of the family’s authority and power. A son would receive his father’s seal and with it the authority of his father. Luke 15:22—the Father gave the prodigal son a ring. This was a signet ring. In a similar fashion, kings would give certain people their seal to do the king’s will. They would then have the authority of the king and the resources of the king (A great example is King Xerxes and Haman from the book of Esther).

2 Corinthians 1:22 says the Holy Spirit is the Father’s seal of ownership and sonship on us. We bear the seal of the Father. There is so much untapped authority we are not using as seal bearers.

In John 14:10-14 Jesus is talking to his disciples at the Last Supper and He is being very frank with them. He tells the disciples that He does what the Father tells him to do. He is a representative of the Father, doing the Father’s work. We are now representatives of the Son for the Son lives in us just as the Father lives in Jesus. Jesus says that we will do greater things than He did here on Earth. Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.”

We are ambassadors with the backing of the kingdom’s resources. Never will you see a shabby consulate. The ambassadors represent the wealth and power of their nation. They have access to it and use it. The same is true for us.